Hidden
by Through Darkness and Light
Summary: When they were younger, Gilbert Nightray had tutored Oz Vessalius. Everything seemed normal, until Oz's disappearence on his 8th birthday shakes Gil's world. Ten years later Raven is working as a detective when a blond boy appears on his doorstep. AU
1. Chapter 1

Because there aren't enough GilxOz fanfictions out there!  
>I'm sorry for not working on my other fics, but these guys have invaded my mind right now.<p>

Disclaimer: Pandora Hearts does not belong to me, it belongs to Jun Mochizuki.

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><p><strong><span>Prologue<span> **

His hands were shaking as he stepped out of the carriage. With a gulp he looked around to take in his surroundings. The Vessalius mansion was immaculate and the sight unsettled him a bit. To top his anxiety, he almost jumped in the air of freight when the man driving the carriage shouted to his horses and cracked his whip. Gilbert turned his head and his golden eyes longingly watched the carriage leave. He couldn't go back now.

After a second of hesitation he stepped forward, walking towards the entrance of the mansion. Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door a loud screech came from beside him and he shrieked when a cat ran past him. The door swung open and a scowling woman was standing in the doorway.

Gilbert composed himself and cleared his throat. "Hello. My name is Gilbert Ni-"

"I know who you are." The woman snarled at him. "Come inside. You're ten minutes late."

Not wanting to disobey her Gilbert quickly stepped into the mansion and followed her as she immediately started walking. "You are expected to call Oz, young master and only speak when spoken to. Your tutoring sessions will last anywhere from 2 to 4 hours each day, depending on what you are handling."

Gilbert followed her, staying silent as he did not wish to anger the woman any further. He knew of the tense relationship between his family and the Vessalius family, but he was adopted and all of the speculations were only rumors. He thought it was ridiculous for adults to act so resentful towards each other over something that wasn't even fact. Because he was deep in his own thoughts, Gilbert hadn't noticed that the woman had stopped and bumped right into her, causing him to fall backwards due to the collision. The woman turned to him with her face red from anger and she was about to rant at him again when blond hair peeked from the other side of the door, followed by small green eyes.

Gilbert looked up to the child almost immediately, golden and green eyes locking. There was an awkward moment of silence before the boy stepped away from the door and into the hallway. He had a big grin on his face. "So you're my new tutor! My name is Oz and I'm almost eight years old!" The child exclaimed.

Golden eyes blinked as the boy held up seven fingers and bent down one to resemble a 'half' and then turned to dismiss the woman, who huffed and left.

"Is there a reason why you're on the floor?" Oz asked Gilbert as he stepped forward and leaned down a bit, leaning in towards Gilbert.

This kid was really invading his personal space, Gilbert speculated as he felt his face heat up by their proximity. When he decided that he couldn't take it anymore Gilbert crawled backwards until he was able to stand up and he brushed down his clothes. "N-No reason. Forget about it, please."

Oz pursed his lips and stood up straight again. "Alrighty. Who are you then?"

"I'm Gilbert." He noticed green eyes waiting for more information and he sighed inwardly. "I'm fourteen years old and I've come to tutor you, young master." He quickly added.

"Great! Let's get going then!" Oz threw his arms in the air before grabbing one of Gilbert's hands and tugging him into the study.

Once inside Gilbert saw that the size of the study was adequate. There was a table with some chairs to work on, bookshelves on the right side of the room and a separate couch, possibly for reading exercises or something.

Oz had let go of Gilbert's hand and had situated himself on the couch, a content smile on his face as he kicked his feet to and fro as they didn't quite reach the floor yet. Looking around, Gilbert placed his bag containing some of his things on the table and grabbed one of the chairs and placed it in front of the couch and sat down as he contemplated what he was going to do first.

With an expectant look on his face, Oz waited for Gilbert to speak and he cocked his head to the side when Gilbert finally opened his mouth to ask Oz for what reasons the young boy needed a tutor. The boy brought his hand up to his chin and stroked it, almost as if he was imagining that he was stroking a beard and explained that his previous tutor had started teaching him multiplications when the man had to leave due to family business.

The young boy rambled on a while about the things that he had already learned and briefly notified Gilbert of the things he was still struggling with, as if he were embarrassed by it.

When Oz had finished Gilbert was actually relieved. From everything he had heard from the boy, the things that he struggled with were things that Gilbert could actually teach him.

With a nod, Gilbert leaned forward a bit. "So if I understand, you've been having some troubles with the multiplications of 6 through 9."

"Oh yes! My tutor said that they were the hardest ones to learn and since he's been gone I've tried to teach them to myself, but I can't remember them."

"Alright. Let me give you a little tip then."

Oz grinned and scooted to the end of the couch, intently listening to what Gilbert had to say.

**XxX**

It was hours later that the doors to the study opened and the woman from before was standing in the hallway. "Young master Oz, study hours are over. It is time for your tea."

"Oh tea! Thank you Mrs. Kate!" Oz sprung up from his spot on the couch and sprinted out of the room.

Great, Gilbert thought to himself. He was stuck with the hateful Mrs. Kate again. Nervously he put the chair back where he got it and grabbed his bag before he walked out of the room. The doors slammed behind him, causing him to wince and he watched the woman walked off again.

"Ah, don't mind her. She tends to be a bit stingy." Gilbert turned with a jerk at the sudden appearance of someone behind him and his black bangs fell in front of his eyes and he pushed them away to look at an older man, who had similar features to Oz, right down to the blond hair and deep green eyes.

The man chuckled. "I'm sorry to have startled you. Oscar Vessalius." He held out his hand.

Gilbert took his hand and shook it. "Gilbert, sir."

"Oh please, just call me Oscar alright kid?" Oscar ruffled Gilbert's hair and moved his hand down to his shoulder and started leading him through the hallways. "So, how did it go today?"

"O-Oh, really good. Oscar… Sir." Gilbert bit his lip out of nervousness. "Oz is very studious."

They paused for a moment outside the informal dining room and Gilbert saw Oz in the corner of his eyes, talking to the maid who was serving him his tea. "-and Gil taught me a neat trick to remember everything! Like six times two is twelve and that six times three is the same as twelve plus six which equals to eighteen! And six times four is twenty-four because eighteen plus six is the same!"

"He already seems to have taken a liking to you." Oscar said with a soft smile on his face as he watched Gilbert blush and scratch his cheek.

Oscar led Gilbert back to the front door and took the time to discuss the days he was expected to come tutor and the times that he was supposed to be there. Gilbert was flattered that he was asked to come back, but there was still something nagging in the back of his mind. He voiced his concerns towards Oscar about him being a Nightray and he anxiously waited for Oscar's response when Oz dashed into the entranceway.

"Oh good!" The boy ran towards Gilbert and Oscar. "You do know that it is very rude to leave before saying goodbye, don't you Gil?"

"I… I'm sorry young master. I'll make sure to remember next time."

As soon as it sunk in that Gilbert was going to keep on being his tutor Oz let out a shout of joy and nearly jumped in the air. "You'd better! I'll be waiting for you then." He held out his hand.

Gilbert managed a smile and reached out to shake Oz's smaller hand. "Right. I will see you again tomorrow, young master."

"Oz. Just call me Oz."

The two boys smiled at each other and Gilbert departed with a small wave before he left the house and stepped into the carriage that was waiting for him. He had been dreading coming here, but luckily everything had turned out just fine.

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><p><strong>Like? Dislike?<br>Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

This has been done for weeks. I never have time to come on my laptop any more... T_T  
>Anyways many thanks to the people that reviewed, because reviews really keep me going.<br>I originally didn't have this chapter, but the other one was such and jump that I found that I had to put something in between.  
>Hope you all like!<br>Disclaimer: Pandora Hearts and Great Expectations do not belong to me

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><p>As he sat in the carriage again Gilbert was glad that most of his anxiety had already passed the day before. He indolently watched as the surroundings flashed by and sank back into the seat. This ride was bliss compared to the one he had taken yesterday. The day before had been like judgment day to him, as he had been headed to the Vessalius mansion for the first time to tutor Oz Vessalius.<p>

His first impression had shaken him up quite a bit, seeing as his greatest fear nearly jumped right on him only to follow with the unpleasant introduction to the head maid, Mrs. Kate. Gilbert was actually pretty freaked out by the older woman. It wasn't that her cold demeanor towards him was scary, that was something that he had expected off the bat, but it was just the way she looked at him. Gilbert tried to repress a shudder, but it went through him anyway.

All of the unpleasant situations were pushed aside when the young Nightray had met his intended tutor. He hadn't expected Oz to be so much younger than him and was surprised when he had noticed the boy's set of mind.

The whole mansion had been gloomy as Mrs. Kate had led him to the study room, her mood easily blended right in and Gilbert had believed that the rest of the mansion and its inhabitants would most likely be the same.

It was easily to say that Oz had been a sight for sore eyes. The boy's features were nearly just as bright as his personality. His golden blond hair that shone as the sun hit it and his deep emerald eyes that made Gilbert stutter and blush when the boy looked straight into his golden eyes. It made Gilbert blush as he was thinking about it. With a sigh he ran one of his hands over his face.

He couldn't deny that he already liked the boy. What wasn't there to like? The child was smart, friendly and most of all, he made Gilbert smile. Nonetheless Gilbert was going to stick to the rules Mrs. Kate had told him. He was a Nightray, tutoring a Vessalius. When he was going to be on their terrain, he was going to act like he was expected to.

The voice of the driver snapped Gilbert out of his thoughts and he thanked the man as he stepped out of the coach. He walked to the front door and knocked on the door, patiently waiting for someone to open it. When it did he looked up with a smile, which immediately fell when his eyes met Mrs. Kate's stern face.

"It looks like you've managed to arrive on time this time. I don't know whether to applaud you or kick you inside to get this done with." The woman growled at the raven as he stepped inside with his head bowed.

A huff was given at his unresponsiveness before Mrs. Kate turned and walked in the direction of the study. Gilbert quickly followed behind her again, but made sure to watch her as he did not want to bump into her again. Last time he had been saved by Oz, but he wouldn't always be so lucky.

Oz's cheerful voice caused his head to snap back up. "It's Gil!" The boy rushed over to him and grabbed his hand. "I've been waiting for you _all_ morning! I practiced my multiplications last night as well. You're gonna be so proud!"

The young Vessalius rambled on as he tugged his tutor into the study, making Gilbert let out a sigh of relief that he was away from Mrs. Kate. Oz pulled Gilbert to the couch and pushed him down into a sitting position. "Alright. Test me."

"Uh, test you?" Gilbert was a bit confused still by the sudden change of scenery.

"Well duh! Ask me about my multiplications, I can do everything now!"

Gilbert knew that the boy was boasting. They had only gone over the multiplications of six the day before, so it would be highly unlikely that he had already mastered the rest of the multiplications.

With a small smile Gilbert leaned back in the couch and made himself comfortable. "Alright. Six times five."

"Thirty!"

"Very good. How about six times eight?"

Oz paused for a moment and pressed some of his fingers together as he was counting in his head. "Six times eight is that same as six times seven plus six, so that makes it forty-two plus six… That's forty-eight!" He exclaimed and clapped his hands in delight that he had figured it out.

"I see you like using my tip." Gilbert leaned forward and placed his arms on his knees. "How about eight times six?"

"That isn't fair Gil! We haven't done eight yet!" The boy protested.

"I'm certain you know it. You even told me a minute ago."

The finger pointing accusingly at the raven dropped a bit as Oz thought about it and he brought the finger up to his lips. The boy didn't really understand what his tutor meant, as they had only gone through the multiplications of six the day before and hadn't even done seven yet. It hit him then. "Eight times six is the same as six times eight! That means its forty-eight!"

Gilbert softly clapped his hands and Oz grinned. "Oh Gil, you're so smart."

The sudden acknowledgment made Gilbert blush. As the teen sat up straight again and turned his head to the side to try to hide the fact that he had gone red in the face, Oz had a little smirk on his face and he leaned forward towards his tutor.

Oz clearing his throat made Gilbert snap out of whatever thoughts he had had and the raven turned his face back towards where Oz was sitting. Needless to say Gilbert couldn't help but be startled by Oz's proximity again. It was like the young boy had no sense of personal space at all and it was really starting to unnerve the Nightray.

As per usual Oz sent him a beaming smile and backed away with a loud chuckle of mirth. "You get red in the face way too easily Gil! How are you supposed to impress girls like that?"

"Impress girls?" Was the only coherent thought that made its way out of Gilbert's mind.

The blond tsked at his tutor and rolled his eyes. "Well yeah! I always hear Mrs. Kate being mad at Uncle Oscar because his attitude is apparently 'unaceptible'."

"First of all you pronounce it unacceptable Oz. And second... Girls? You and I are way too young to be thinking about something like that."

"I beg to differ!" Oz pointed up to the ceiling. "Mrs. Kate says that a man can't be a real man without having a good woman by his side! She says that men are too barbaric... Whatever that word means." He mumbled the last bit as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Gilbert proceeded to explain to Oz that that was something that they didn't have to worry about yet and pointed out that Oz needed a proper education, just to get his mind back on what they were actually supposed to be doing since Gilbert didn't want the maid to come in and see that they were doing nothing.

Once he got Oz's mind set back onto tutoring Gilbert reached into his bag and grabbed a novel out of it before placing it on his tutor's lap.

"A book?"

"A novel. You were bragging on how well you could read yesterday. I want to see how much of that was true."

Oz held up the book and his brows furrowed as he read the title. "Gr-great Expectations?"

Gilbert nodded to the boy and opened the novel for him and pointed at the first line, indicating that Oz was to start reading. The young Vessalius looked down at Gilbert's finger and started reading after analyzing the words for a few seconds.

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more...exple- explicit," Oz nervously looked at Gilbert and waited for him to correct him, but when he didn't Oz continued, "than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip."

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><p>Yeah... I love Great Expectations and reviews<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Next chapter. I hope you guys like =)  
>Disclaimer: Not mine<p>

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><p>"Young master please sit down!" Gilbert exclaimed as he ran after the young Vessalius, whose attention span had ended and he decided it was no longer time to study, but to play.<p>

It had started out as a normal day for the both of them. Gilbert had gotten up early to get ready to travel to the Vessalius mansion and by the time he got there, Oz was already waiting for him eager to start their study sessions. It had been four months since Gilbert started tutoring Oz and it had all been going pretty well. At least, until the certain days that Oz decided that he had better things to do than study.

This was definitely one of those days. Oz was running through the hallways of the large mansion, with Gilbert running after him in an attempt to catch the child so they could continue their studies before Mrs. Kate noticed that they weren't studying.

Ever since Gilbert had arrived, the main maid had clearly shown her distrust and dislike of the teenage raven. The relationship between them was definitely non-existent. More than once Gilbert had heard her shouting at Oz's uncle, Oscar to get rid of him because of who he was. It wasn't a secret that his family was suspected of murdering Oz's mother and Mrs. Kate claimed that Oscar had been insane to let an abomination like him into their dwelling. Fortunately Oscar always stood up for Gilbert and defended that it wasn't certain how Rechelle had died and if anything Gilbert wouldn't be one to blame as he had been adopted by the Nightray family only four years earlier.

Gilbert feared Mrs. Kate. Especially because of the fact that she had found out that he was terrified of cats. More than once she had 'accidently' left the windows of the study open since she knew that a stray cat that roamed near the mansion always jumped in when the windows were open.

Whenever the woman caught up to him and Oz during their 'off' days, all nonsense stopped immediately and Oz reluctantly went back to studying and Gilbert would always be reprimanded about letting the young boy be distracted from his studies.

So Gilbert was insanely happy when by a stroke of luck, he spotted Oz looking into one of the many rooms of the mansion. Mrs. Kate wasn't anywhere to be seen and that made it even better. The raven snuck up behind Oz and wrapped his arms around the boy's chest, trapping him.

"Ha! I've caught you young master!"

Oz snapped out of his stupor and struggled in Gilbert's arm. "No! Let me go Gil! I don't wanna!" He whined.

With a sigh, Gilbert set Oz back down and held onto his arm. He spotted something shiny in of the corner of his eye and looked into the room as well. "What were you looking at Oz?"

Oz pulled his arm away from his tutor and peered into the room again. "I was looking at that suit of armor."

Gilbert could immediately see why Oz had paused at the sight of the suit of armor. It was really big and even from a distance Gilbert could see that it was easily three or four heads taller than he was. The sun came in through a window and made the steel of the armor shine. A large helmet was on top of it, the face guard coming out in a point. Stationed right in front of its legs was a sword that was being held up by its arms.

Both boys looked at the armor in awe before Gilbert remembered that they weren't supposed to be there. "Come on young master. We have to go. Mrs. Kate will come to announce your tea soon and she'll become very angry when she discovers that we aren't there."

"You're right. Why are you so smart Gil?" Oz muttered, his eyes still trained on the sword.

"It's because I'm older. Now hurry!" Gilbert pushed Oz away from the room with urgency. He did not want to face the wrath of Mrs. Kate again.

Oz compliantly walked back with his older tutor, but he couldn't seem to get the sword out of his mind. He smiled to himself. He'd have to get a closer look to the weapon later.

**XxX**

The next day when Gilbert arrived at the study room, he noticed that Oz wasn't there yet and looked around. Even after coming to the mansion for a little over four months he still didn't know anything about the layout. So he had no idea where to go look for Oz. By chance he saw a maid and walked up to her to ask if she had seen Oz. The maid happily told him that she had seen him go towards the nursery, which was down the hall and to the left.

Gilbert thanked the woman and set out of find the nursery. He had been a bit anxious as he walked through the hall; he had never been down this way before because this was the direction of the personal living quarters and Mrs. Kate had strictly told him that he wasn't allowed to come down this way. The palms of his hands were sweaty as he walked and he was delighted to hear Oz's voice come from a room. He turned into the room and stopped.

"Young master! What do you think you're doing?" Gilbert shrieked, his hands coming up to grabbed onto his hair.

Oz looked over his shoulder and grinned. He was standing in the middle of the room with his foot on a small pedestal and he held a sword into the air with both of his hands to keep it steady while his younger sister Ada was crawling on the floor.

"Gilbert! You're just in time! I have just rescued Ada from the evil dragon and now we have to get away before he roasts us to become his next dinner!"

His hands were shaking as Gilbert stepped forward. He had to get the sword away from Oz before the boy hurt himself, or worse hurt his baby sister. "Oz, look at me!"

Oz immediately stopped whatever he was planning to do next when he heard Gilbert say his name. He knew his tutor only used it when he was being serious.

"You're going to have to give me the sword carefully and you have to give it to me now."

"But I'm just-…" Oz looked at Gilbert to the sword and back. He was just playing, since when was playing such a bad thing?

Gilbert walked forward a bit more and held out his hands to coax Oz to give him the sword. As soon as Oz saw how concentrated Gilbert's golden eyes were he realized that he wasn't doing anything wrong, it was just the sword that made Gilbert angry. Oz turned towards his tutor to hand him the sword and was going to take a step forward when his foot got caught under the pedestal and he fell.

Oz slammed down onto the floor, the sword clanging down in front of him. The boy covered his head as he awaited Gil to get mad at him, but the only thing he heard was a small whimper from Ada before she started bawling. His heart was beating rapidly when he moved his hands and looked up to see lying face down on the floor as a pool of blood surrounding him slowly grew larger. Oh no, what had he done? Oz sucked in a breath of air and did the only thing that he could think of.

He screamed.

**XxX**

"It's my fault! It's all my fault and now Gil is going to die!" Oz bawled as he held onto his uncle.

Oscar had been the first to come to the room and he was shocked to see both his niece and nephew crying as Gilbert was bleeding on the floor. The teen had been taken to a separate room and the family doctor had arrived a while ago. Oscar had already tried to ask Oz what had happened, but all he got out of the boy were incoherent mumblings and snot bubbles.

The elder Vessalius tried to calm Oz down as the doctor examined Gilbert. He knew from experience that the wound Gilbert had sustained wasn't going to kill him, but he'd definitely be scarred for the rest of his life.

The door squeaked open and the doctor came out, wiping his hand off on a bloody cloth and Oscar glared at man who quickly put it away.

"He needed multiple stitches. He was lucky that the cut was not as deep as I initially thought it to be." The man explained to Oscar and he looked down at Oz, who was clutching onto his uncle's pant leg. "And you, young man have learned a very valuable lesson today, haven't you?"

The blond head bobbed up and down a few times before he timidly asked if he could go inside to see Gilbert.

"You may, but no rough housing. His chest is very sensitive and he can't move much or else his stitches will break off and that will hurt him." The doctor pushed his glasses up and turned back to Oscar as soon as the young boy dashed into the room. "You'll have to discuss with his family if they want him to be brought back to their own house. In any situation, his stitches need to stay in for at least ten days, possibly more."

Oz vaguely heard the old doctor talking to his uncle, but he ignored to both of them as he stepped into the room. Gilbert was in the bed, his eyes closed. At first Oz thought him dead until he heard Gilbert's soft breathing. Cautiously Oz tiptoed towards the side of the bed and sat down in the chair the doctor had probably occupied minutes before.

He watched as Gilbert's chest slowly moved up and down and he couldn't help but stare at the place where he had accidently cut him with the sword. It was a strange sight, Oz thought. The edges of the wound were sewn together with several pieces of black thread. Be it childish curiosity or just the fact that Oz wanted to reassure himself that Gilbert was actually still with him; he leaned forward and touched the stitches.

His hand snapped back when Gilbert let out a groan of pain and his golden eyes opened. With wide green eyes Oz watched Gilbert slowly wake up. He sniffed when Gilbert fully woke up and looked around the room.

"Young master?" Gilbert croaked out, unsure of where he was and why he was there.

Oz whimpered and he pouted, trying to keep his tears at bay. "I'm so sorry Gil. I never meant to hurt you."

Just as Oz mentioned it, Gilbert felt a dull pain on his chest and looked down. His body became rigid as he stared down at the stitches.

The young boy carefully watched Gilbert and he could see that the teen was distraught and he finally allowed his tears to flow. He held his hands in front of his face as he sob, ashamed that he had hurt his tutor, who he subsequently saw as his best friend.

To Oz, it was a shock when a shaky hand grabbed onto his arm and pulled it causing his hand to come off of his face as a result.

"I-It's alright, young master. I should have known better than to stand so close to you." Gilbert tried to smile at Oz to reassure him.

"So you don't hate me?"

"Of course I don't. As long as you promise me never to play with dangerous things again." The raven said.

With that Oz smiled despite his sadness and jumped onto the bed to hug his friend. He immediately retracted himself from the older boy when he heard him hiss in pain and looked down at him. "Sorry." He said sheepishly.

Gilbert sighed and waved the boy off.

It was silent in the room for a while, the only noise being the soft conversation outside the door. Oz sat down on the bed next to Gilbert and held his hand as he solemnly glared at the wound, as if he was trying to make it disappear. Gilbert let his head fall back into the pillow and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey Gil…"

"Yes young master?"

"Would I be out of place if I asked you to come to my birthday two weeks from now?"

Gilbert turned his head and stared at the boy, a slight blush on his face. "Well yes, but only because I'm not a part of your family." He added the last when he noticed Oz's disappointment.

Oz pouted and looked away. "But Gilbert is my friend… Is it wrong to ask your friend to come to your birthday?"

"Don't worry, it isn't." Gilbert reassured the boy.

"Good! Then you have to get better again by my birthday! Remember that I'm turning eight okay?"

Gilbert chuckled and reached up to ruffle Oz's blond hair even though it tugged at his wound and made it hurt more. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Oz."

**XxX**

"You're crazy! Why would you go see that boy again after he hurt you?" Vincent grabbed onto his older brother's sleeve and pulled him back.

The blond had been enraged when Gilbert had come back to the Nightray estate strapped to a board to restrict his movements because of the wound to his chest. He knew that his adoptive brothers and sister were all mad because of Gilbert's injury, especially since it had been Oscar Vessalius to ask Gilbert to become Oz's tutor so they blamed him.

In Vincent's mismatched eyes, the Vessalius kid had been nothing but trouble. He had taken away his brother from him, five days a week for most of the day and then he had the nerve to be 'clumsy' and 'accidently' slash Gilbert with a sword.

Unlike Gilbert, Vincent felt resentment towards the Vessalius household because they accused his adoptive family of killing one of them. It wasn't that he particularly cared for his adoptive parents, but the people had been kind enough to adopt both him and his older brother when they were caught wandering around the estate.

"Calm down Vincent. I've told you a dozen times before, what happened was an accident. It was an accident that I could've prevented if I had been more careful."

"Who says he won't accidently hurt you again?" Vincent hissed out as he tugged his brother's arm.

Gilbert grabbed his younger brother's hand and took it off of him. Even though his stitches had been removed, his wound still hurt if he moved around too much. "I'll be back before dinner. Don't worry about me."

That said, Gilbert grabbed a small box that he had placed on a side table near the front entrance. He had no idea what Oz would have wanted for his birthday, but he had gone into town the day before desperate to find the boy a gift. He was passing an antique shop when something caught his eyes and he was stuck on the glass a second later to stare at it. Before he knew it he had gone into the shop and inquired about the pocket watch in the window. The old man had grabbed it for him and showed it to him.

The pocket watch was made of gold and had a simple design. Gilbert had opened the watch to see if it still worked and had been surprised to hear that it played a song when it was opened. He had asked the owner of the shop about its origin, but the man hadn't known. Not that it mattered to Gilbert because he had already made his mind up that he would get it for Oz.

He hoped that the boy would like the gift, because if he didn't… Gilbert frowned as he walked towards the carriage that was waiting for him. It was bad to think so negatively of his friend. As he stepped into the carriage he smiled a bit. Thinking Oz as his friend was still strange, but he liked that he finally had a more informal way of thinking of the boy, as it had been young master and the boy he was tutoring before.

The carriage hobbled a bit as they rode on the dirt roads. Gilbert wasn't really aware of the time that they had to travel, since he had made the trip so many times before. The time just tended to fly by as he sat in the carriage. When the carriage stopped he was surprised to see that the driver opened the front window and looked in at Gilbert, looking nervous.

"Hey kid… Are you sure this is the place where you were heading? Cause it's kind of…" The man trailed off and Gilbert got out of the carriage in concern.

It was immediately apparent to Gilbert why the driver had been hesitating. The normally empty front of the mansion was filled with carriages, which at first Gilbert didn't see as a problem seeing as it was Oz's birthday, but his being filled with dread when he noticed that they were police carriages.

"Just…" Gilbert hesitated. "I-I'll be right back okay? Wait for me."

He vaguely noticed that the driver nodded before he raced towards the mansion. What could have happened that there were so many police carriages? The constables who were stationed at the front of the house tried to stop him from entering until Oscar came out of the house and called Gilbert to him.

The constables let the teen go and he rushed over to Oscar. "What happened? There hasn't been another accident has there?" Gilbert was panting as he bombarded the Vessalius with questions, ignoring the sting of his chest.

Oscar pulled Gilbert into the house and placed his hands on the raven's shoulder as if he was trying to brace him for what he had to tell. "Oz is missing."

Gilbert chuckled, not realizing the seriousness of Oscar's tone at first. "O-oh… Then you don't need these police here! Oz is probably up to his normal tricks again and he'll show up soon-"

"You don't understand Gilbert. He was in his room getting ready and I left him for five minutes. Five minutes! And when I went to get him, he was gone and the window was open."

It was hard to take in. Gilbert gasped and covered his open mouth with his hand when he had noticed Oscar's grave tone.

"Gilbert, the police believe that Oz has been kidnapped."

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><p>Thus ends the cheerful part of the story. I already have the next few chapters written up and will post when I have time.<br>Please **Review =)**


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